Carving in the Wall
by NarniaLover303
Summary: Caspian learns that there are bigger problems than his own.
1. Lucy

Just a little one-shot that I wrote while watching the scene in Prince Caspian where the Pevensies are walking down the hall filled with carvings. Might make this a four chapter thing where Caspian has a moment with each of the Pevensies when they are remembering something from the Golden Age.

Disclaimer: If I owned the Chronicles of Narnia, then I probably wouldn't be writing a fanfiction for the Chronicles of Narnia.

Caspian's Point of View

I was walking down the hall filled with pictures of the Kings and Queens of Old. I needed someplace empty to think about what I had just done. Even though High King Peter had lectured me for over half an hour, I felt as if I deserved some self berating. How could I have been so stupid, so selfish, as to almost unleash the fury of the White Witch? I had read the history books, heard the stories of the terror that the Witch had caused in Narnia. I knew perfectly well what she had done to King Edmund, and yet I STILL came so CLOSE to letting her free. How could I be so- I stopped myself mid-thought when I heard a small sniffling coming from down the corridor. I stood up, and gently creeped towards the sound. When I peeked around the corner, I saw a small figure huddled on the ground, sobbing. When I realized who it was, I gasped. A millisecond later, a dagger was an inch from my head. Queen Lucy stood up quickly, wiped her eyes, and said,

"Oh, I'm so sorry Caspian. I didn't think that particular instinct would survive England."

I managed a small smile before I pulled the dagger out of the dirt wall. I handed it to Queen Lucy hilt first, and she put it back in its red leather sheath. She turned away again to stare at a carving on the wall. I cleared my throat, and asked gently,

"Queen Lucy?"

She turned back to me, and I was surprised to see tears filling her blue eyes again. The youngest royal had always seemed carefree and happy to me. She was strong in her faith of Aslan, and the only time that I saw her get mad was when Peter declared that we were on our own . I quickly tried to say something to comfort her.

"Your Majesty, I'm very sorry if I said something wrong-"

She held up her hand, shaking her head.

"It's not anything that you said Caspian. You've been amazing actually. You're going to be a great King."

I smiled, but was still worried about her.

"If I may be so bold Your Highness, can I ask why you were crying?"

She merely pointed at the carving that she had been staring at. It depicted a faun wearing a red scarf, with parcels in his arms. There was a lamppost in the middle of the deep snow.

"That was Mr. Tumnus."

Queen Lucy said. I glanced at her, saw great tears rolling down her cheeks, and hurriedly looked back at the carving in the wall. She sniffled and said,

"He was the best faun I ever knew. He was my best friend."

I asked, very quietly,

"What happened to him, Your Highness?"

She was quiet for so long, that I looked at her again. When she spoke, it was in a voice so soft that I could barely catch the heartbroken words that Queen Lucy uttered,

"Oh, from what I ve heard here, he was killed in the attack of Cair Paravel, along with over one hundred of my friends and subjects."

With that she went silent. My problems suddenly felt very insignificant, compared to the youngest Queens. For the rest of the night we stared at the carving in the wall, remembering all the people who died to put me on the throne.

Please review! They make my day, I always write back, and I always read the reviewer's stories, since they took the time to read mine!


	2. Edmund

High King Peter was crazy. Caspian felt terrible for thinking it, but it was the truth. How could he be willing to take the chance that his little sister would find Aslan? What if she didn't? Then all Narnians would be put to death, and that would be that. Why would he take that risk? Aslan was probably not even real. Sure, the stories always told of Aslan being the Great King, and the son of the Emperor-Over-the-Sea, but the stories had also told him that High King Peter was a patient King who always thought things through. Caspian passed the room which held the Stone Table, and paused to look disgustedly at the carving of Aslan. Aslan was a cat, and nothing more. The fate of Narnia was resting on the shoulders of a cat! Caspian was about to walk away when he noticed a small figure sitting on the Stone Table. For a second, Caspian thought that it was Queen Lucy, but when he got closer, he realized that the figure had a wayward mop of black hair, and not auburn. Curious as to what King Edmund was doing, Caspian hurried down the stairs. King Edmund turned around, and Caspian was horrified to see that Edmund had puffy and red-rimmed eyes.

"Your Majesty, I am so sorry."

King Edmund shook his head.

"Nothing to apologize for, Prince Caspian."

King Edmund motioned for Caspian to come and sit next to him. Caspian inclined his head towards the King, and took a seat on the cold stone. For a few minutes, they sat in silence, until Edmund said,

"You don't believe in Him, do you Caspian."

I was stunned. How could King Edmund possibly know exactly what I had been thinking about? Of course, the stories had always said… No. Caspian would no longer listen to those stories. He would listen to the truth. Caspian shook his head.

"Neither did I." whispered Edmund. "That was why I betrayed my family."

Caspian whipped his head around to look at Edmund. The young King was smiling grimly, and absentmindedly rubbing the left side of his stomach, where, IF the stories were true, would have been exactly where…

"It was my second time in Narnia you know. I had already had a conversation with the White Witch, and well, you know how convincing she can be."

Caspian winced, remembering his encounter with the Witch, and preferring to forget it. Caspian would have asked Edmund to stop with his story, but for some reason, he was drawn in, captivated.

"We were at the Beaver's Dam, having tea. Mr. Beaver, he was a great friend of ours, started telling us about Aslan, and after I heard that he was a cat, I snuck out of the dam, and went to see the Witch. You see, I didn't want to hear stories about a cat preparing to change the course of Narnia. I thought it was silly, blasphemy. So, I left."

Edmund took a deep breath. Caspian wondered when the last time had been that King Edmund had told this story to someone. Perhaps never.

"I walked to her castle, excited to see her again. She had been so nice to me the first time that we had met. She fed me Turkish Delight, promised me more if I brought my brother and sisters to Narnia with me the next time that I came. When I got to her castle, however, alone, the Witch transformed into a nightmare. She screamed at me, hit me, and demanded that I be locked up in the dungeons."

Caspian was horrified. Never once had he heard that Edmund had been imprisoned. The books were always very vague about the youngest King's betrayal, skipping over the majority of it.

"The next few days, I was in her Ice Dungeon. She only brought me out so that I could ride along to see her kill my family. Thank Aslan they outrun her, or else I would have their deaths on my hands."

Edmund sighed, and started playing with the straps on his armor. He was quiet for so long that Caspian thought it was the end of the story. But, Edmund started talking again.

"Aslan sacrificed Himself, for me Caspian. For me. He had done nothing wrong, had committed no crime, and was willing to die for a traitor like me. I am ashamed every day of my life for what I have done. And do you want to what the worst part is?"

Caspian nodded, but King Edmund would have answered either way.

"I did it all for Turkish Delight."

Caspian and Edmund spent the rest of the night staring at the carving in the wall, in silence, thinking about sacrifices that need not have been made, had they not been so selfish.


	3. Peter

**Please enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: If I owned the Chronicles of Narnia, then I probably wouldn't be writing a fanfiction about the Chronicles of Narnia.**

"I'm disappointed in you Caspian."

The moment that the words left Queen Susan's lips, Caspian was disappointed in himself. Ever since Susan had come to Narnia, Caspian had developed a bit of a soft spot for the Gentle Queen. Caspian adored her kindness, beauty, caring spirit, beauty, big heart, beauty...

Caspian shook his head, as he remembered the situation. He had almost just released the single most evil thing that Narnia had ever seen before. The White Witch had wreaked havoc that would have made Miraz look like a teddy bear. And Caspian had almost just released that. How could he possibly think that the Witch would help him? She would just kill him and then kill High King Peter. Caspian rubbed his eyes tiredly. For the past hour King Peter had yelled at him. When his voice started to go hoarse, Susan had taken over for him.

"I mean, the Witch almost killed Edmund. You wanted to let that go?"

Caspian took a deep breath, intending to calmly explain what had happened again. Instead what came out was,

"I didn't _want_ to Your Majesty! She tricked me! I am sorry that I am _human_!"

The room went quiet. Caspian's mouth fell open when he realized exactly what he had said, and who he had said it to. Peter and Edmund were gaping at him, and Lucy's face broke into a smile. She had been berated by her sister for going to the battle in the first place, and Caspian thought that she was sick of the arguing too.

"Your Majesty, I am very sorry-"

But the damage was done. Susan glared at him, and ran off in a flurry of expensive fabric. Caspian sighed, ad sat down on the Stone Table. Edmund muttered something to Peter, and left the room. Lucy sighed, jumped off of the rock that she had been sitting on, and walked off after her brother. Uncomfortably, Caspian realized that the only people left in the room were him and High King Peter. The High King and Caspian had not exactly gotten along since the Pevensies had arrived, and the two had tried to kill each other. Peter scratched his nose, and walked over to sit next to him. He cleared his throat, and said,

"You know Caspian, I don't like you very much."

Caspian snorted.

"But, I think that if you understood why I don't like you so much, then you wouldn't be so confused."

Caspian looked at Peter. The oldest Pevensie had only talked to Caspian when he had to, and he never volunteered to start the conversation. And Caspian was sure that a list of why Peter hated him would be a long one.

"When we got back here, we though that we returned one year after we had left. We thought that Narnia was still in its Golden Age. We thought that we would go back to Cair Paravel, and find all of our friends and subjects waiting to welcome all of us back. Instead, Edmund found the ruins of our castle, where we had grown up. All of our friends were dead, and the four of us only survived in history."

Caspian scratched his head uncomfortably. Peter's eyes had started to look watery.

"Then we found out that you were supposed to be the new King, and I felt like I was being... replaced."

Caspian nodded, suddenly understanding more what Peter was going through. Miraz had tried to take his place, and Caspian didn t exactly enjoy that. Caspian and Peter sat at the Stone Table, and, for once, were able to have a conversation.

**I know it was short, and I am EXTREMELY sorry! Please review, it make my day, and I always read the reviewer's stories, since they took the time to read mine!**


	4. Susan

**(A/N) **

**Let me begin with a profound apology from the very deepest part of my heart. I know that it has been almost an entire month since I have updated this story, and I feel TERRIBLE for it. No matter how much I wanted to write, I could not come up with a single idea for the last chapter of this story. Not to mention that in this past almost-month I've gotten strept throat, more homework than I can count, babysitting, strept throat again, my older brother came back home three days ago for his winter break, and I was too busy talking to him to even THINK about FanFiction, and then, just because God likes weakening my immune system, I got strept throat again. But, I did get the very last chapter (tear) of Carvings in the Wall up, and I hope you immensely enjoy, and please review.**

"Your Majesty, what do you miss the most about the Golden Age?"

The question was out before I could stop it, and I immediately regretted even thinking it. Queen Susan clearly did not enjoy being asked to relive her time in Narnia. I was actually starting to wonder if she even liked being back in her country. However, instead of getting angry at me, she simply flashed a wan smile. We were in one of the sitting rooms within the castle, and until a minute ago we had been reading peacefully. Susan closed her leather-bound book, sighed, and got out of the plush, velvet-covered chair that she had been seated in. She walked over to a gilded mirror, and wistfully touched her pale cheek, and ran a hand through her long, raven-colored hair. She sighed again, and turned away from her reflection as if what she saw pained her. She smoothed her red skirts, and sat back gracefully in her seat. For a second, I thought that she was going to ignore my question and simply go back to her reading, but she spoke.

"Did your Professor ever tell you what I was best known for in our time Caspian?"

I nodded, recalling the slightly ridiculous pile of stories simply fawning over Susan's hair.

"Everyone, far and wide, adored your beauty."

Susan nodded, smiling slightly.

"Yes. Countries almost started wars to have my hand. I was in a way just like this one girl from where I am from, oh- what was her name? Helen, something. Anyway, I had new suitors every day. Every time I went out to the market, men stared at me. I knew that I was self-centered, but I also knew that I was beautiful. I had confidence, I had brains and beauty, and I had a secret weapon."

I raised an eyebrow, and inquired,

"A weapon, Your Majesty?"

" Mmm.." Susan sighed in response.

She walked back over to the mirror, and touched her cheek again, not sadly, I realized, but longingly.

"Do you know Caspian, what a weapon beauty can be? You can lure secrets out of the most tight-lipped man. You can have power over any lord or king if you bat your eyelashes a certain way, or laugh at his jokes."

I blushed. Maybe Susan wasn't completely oblivious to the power she had over me after all. And maybe my joke about the satyr, the Talking Bear, and the Beaver hadn't been as amusing as I thought it had been.

"When we were in Narnia, that was my one true usefulness. I could sniff out a spy, and have him spilling his secrets before he even knew what he was doing. I could charm the most hardened ambassador into becoming Narnia's best friend."

Susan sat back down, picked up her book, and, before starting to read again, finished with a quick,

"I miss my beauty Caspian. Because sometimes, when you have both beauty and brains, you can be more dangerous than a sword."

**Well, crap. I hate ending stories. I hope you have enjoyed reading this, and hope that you will check out my other ones! Have a very merry Christmas! **


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